Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-04-08
"UNDER FIRE."
Henry George and His Land Theory Crit
cIsed.
Chica o Inter ocean.

Chica"O Inter ocean.
Mr.. Henry George does not show 10
good advantage under fire of questions.
He gets along well enough while such
platitudiuous assertions as "Nature has
provided means tor the sustenance of the
human race without the operation of p: O.
tective laws" awake "the soft conclusion
of applsuding Gloves from well-fed
theorists, the last of whose intents is
that Of earning their own sustenance
from the sources which "nature has pro-
vided." But when asked TO descend
from the barren empyresn Of generality
to the solid earth of detail he treads with
lame foot.
The origin of lew is in the fact that
while "nature has provided means for the
sustenence OF the human race" very
large majority of the members ~ +ho race
are averse to the using the means. One
patient drudge raises corn, in the hope
that it will feed himself and children dur
ing the cold of winter, and three men who
have berries and flesh ell summer kill the
drudge and take his corn. Gradually the
drudges form protective society; they
make laws; they say that he that will not
work shall not eat; they define personal
property, assign punishment to theft,
and, as quarrels between themselves
occur ABOUT the choice of lands,
they define the rights of realty All this
has to be done that the means (which
nature has provided may be utilized.
Right of property once established, it fol
lows naturally that some men acquire
more of it than others. Equality of &C
Quirement is not enc of the qualities
which nature has provided Even Mr.
George himself SECURES more money by
writing books and delivering lectures
than he could do by sticking hogs, or
weaving wool or planning lumber. Mr..
POwderly acquires more by the exercise
of those great abilities which his
Office OF Master Workman cOntin-
uaIly calls into use than he
could do by mining coal or chopping
wood. And, very properly. Messrs.
George and POWderly bring a scarcer ar
ticle than mere labor into the public mar
ket, and receive a higher price for it.
Neither Of them could ind sale for their
wares in Mr.. Georges ideal country,
where lard is either cheap or public prop
erty. Laud was public property in
America till the white man came, but
there was never an Indian market for the
executive force of POwderly or the liter
airy skill Of George, but in all Ibdian
tribes disease and hunger were constant
guests, pestilenCe and famine frequent
visitors. 1t is not as men near the con-
ditiOns (Which nature has provided" that
they are happy; it is as they recede from
them.
Some perception of all this appears to
have reached the person, who pro-
pounded this question:
If the land was all made public, and
the banks and factories remain as now,
low could the people start in business?
To which Mr.. George made answer:
AS they did in the .Arst place-on the
land.
1t is fair TO assume that the orator was
"rsttled;" it would be Interesting to
know how his reply looks to him in the
rigidity Of type. Mr. George denounces
communism; thet dollars which he has
honestly earned. by tie sale of his
books and delivery of his lee
lures he very Justly believes
are his own; he does not think that any
one should force him into a division of
them with his poorer fellow creatures,
and so with the money which banks own.
But land is to be common. Now, let him
reconsider question and answer. A
hundred, or a hundred thousand, men.
none of whom owns a cent, are placed on
the land (Which nature has provided"
the questioner asks, CHOW are they to
start IN business?" Mr.. George says,
GAS they did in the first, plhce-0n the
land" We beg 10 assure hlm that they
won't.
When men started in business "in the
first pIace-on the land" man was q very
different being from what ne now is. He
clothed himself in skins OF wild beasts,
when he clothed himself at all; he shell
tered in q cave; he pioWed with q cooked
stick, and he ate berries and fish or the
flesh of game while his crop was ripening.
The meanest of the proietpiat of the
meanest country Of Europe wTil return to
no such savagery to. develops Georgian
Utopia. Progress, has removed man
too far from poverty forS suchla relapse
to be possible. Mr.. George knows this
well enough. He made his answer in a
hurry. But st his leisure he can make no
better one unless he renOunCes his;claim to
personal property. For when the money
less men were put on the land (Which
nature has provided" theB would have to
be furnished with tools to work with and
with food and clothes TO last them till
their crops ripened. The banks might do
this, but they would wEnt mort
gage on "the land which nature has
provided" and the absorbing of land by
great proprietOrs would begin again. If |
a government taxed the banks on their
deposits or Mr.. George on the sale of his |
books, for means to equip and subsist the |
new farmers, that would be the firs5 act |
OF an absolute cofAmune, and it would have
to be followed by ike acts until all the
personal property ofthe country were ex-
hausted, for nothing Is Tuore certain than
that men will not work, even on 'the |
land which nature has pgovidedb' so long |
as they can live without work.
1. is reported from Cherryhill, Pa,
that farmer there has pet crow that7
has associated with his chickens so long T.
that it actually imagines itself one. 1t
struts around the bsrnyard ell day |
scratching for grain, goes to- roost with
the hens at nisht, and in aikthings tries to
ape the manners of its associates. During
the late warm spell one of the hens took
q notion to try to hatch cut china egg,
and the crow, not to be outdSne, hunted .
up an old bone and followed suit.
General BOurlaDger is fond OF cricket,
3 taS,e which he acquired during, resi-
dence in England when boy.